Weekend at the Farm October 4 - 5, 2014

Friday after work I went to the annual bulb sale put on by the Houston Garden Club.  Sandy Bramanti's wedding on Saturday evening.  Drove to the farm after the reception.

• Fertilized my Snowstorm Beautyberry.  I thought one of them had died due to lack of water, but it sprang back when the weather got cooler.  It must have dropped all its leaves as a defense mechanism.  
• Fertilized my Banana Shrub.  Still have never gotten a flower (which smell like ripe bananas), but I think next year is the year.
• I planted 2 Ellen Bosanquet Crinum bulbs (they are massive bulbs) in the beds in the Star Garden that lead to the Rose Garden.  I planted one in the bed with the Snowstorm Beautyberries and one in the bed with the half-dead Sweet Olive.  Both of them are in partial shade, I think the flowers are prettier when they are protected from the afternoon sun.
• Cut back all the dried seed heads of Gulf Coast Penstemon.  They were surrounding my Banana Shrub (they are very tall).  I shook out all the seed in the bed along the side of the Rose Garden where all my double daffodils are planted and my Black Eyed Susan seedlings are growing.  
• Cut away salvia growing in the path next to my Chaste Trees.
• Mulched the Banana Shrub, the Sweet Olive, in the bed where the Hydrangea is growing that Ashley gave me, both Crinums I just planted, and the Crinum bed in the Rose Garden.
• Edged the bed where the Crinums are growing in the Rose Garden with rock that I hauled back from the woods a couple weeks ago.  Trying to head off weeds - that bed can get weedy.  One thing about the change in weather - the summer weeds die back, and the winter weeds start making an appearance.  
• Pulled up the birdhouse Gourd Vine in the Vegetable Garden.  I waited one week too long to pick those gourds.  They were fine last weekend - big and perfect for picking and drying.  This week they are gone.  I found one in the Infinity Garden, almost completely eaten, not even any seeds were left so I could plant them again next year.  Haven't found the others. Whatever is eating them (I assume a racoon) usually leaves a half-eaten mess somewhere.  
• Sprinkled generous amounts of chitin in the bed where the vine was growing and turned over the soil.  Buried lots of marigold greenery throughout.
• Planted 2 White Butterfly Ginger (smells just like honeysuckle - wonderful) along the Boardwalk on opposite sides of the walk.  One side gets a bit more sun, but it isn't full sun.